Locomotive fire-box



.N PETERS, PNOTO-LITHOGRAFHER. WASHINGTON. D. C.

I UNITED sTATEs NPATENT OFFICE ROSS WINANS AND `THOMAS W'INANS, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

LOCOMOTIVE FIRE-BOX.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 10,901, dated May 9, 1854.

our said invention.

A bet-ter understanding of our invention. will be had by looking, inthe first place, at the drawings, and to those particulars, wherein, it is. evident, `on inspection, that they exhibit a machine differing from that in general. use prior to the date of our invention. See drawings Nos. 1 and 2. I. The most striking difference will be recognized in the length of the iire box, and its peculiar shape. 2. Again, on the sloping top of the lire box, will be seen two feed boxes, diverging from each other, and opening into the fire box` at different points, through which fuel may be dropped, or fed, upon different parts of the grates. 3. Andagain, it will be seen, that the tender has twoplatforms,

one above the other, on either of which the tiremanmaystand when feeding the lire box with fuel.

It is in the dimensions and form of the fire box, the contrivances for the admission of fuel into it, and the platforms from which the-fuel may be fed, thus apparent, on the drawing No. l, without more particular reference, that our invention consists, the details of which we now proceed to describe. i In devoting himself to the improvement of the railroad locomotiveengine for burning anthracite, or bituminous, coal, Ross Winans, one ofthe present claimants, found, that a large `fire grate was essential to success, which, in its turn, required more than ordinary facilities to be afforded` for access to the fire; and he found that these two ob-` jects could be `attained by a form of construction which placed `thefire box behind the driving axle of the engine. This, howd ever, required changes, in other particulars, to prevent the weight of the enlarged fire box deranging the equal bearing of the gross weight of the machine on all its wheels, and, accordingly, the dome of the boiler, `the house for the engineman, the valve gear, and platform from which it was worked, were transferred to the position in which they are` shown in Nogl, and other changes,

unnecessary to enumerate in this place, were made, the general result of which was to compensate the increase of weight behind the drivers, and preserve that adjustment `of the gross weight upon all the wheels, that was desirable. The changes, here `referred to, and their results, are more particularly described in the specification accompanying an application for a patent, which the said Ross Winans, has, at this time, before the Patent Office; and they are referred to, now, mainly for the purpose of showing the point, from which the improvements, now proposed by us to be patented, began.

In the machine just described, the said Ross Winans had obtained as large a fire box as he believed was practicable, consistently with other considerations affecting the subject.' Still, experience leftno doubt that a larger lire box was important in connection with the burning of anthracite, or bituminous, coal, to the best advantage, and we, accordingly, turned our 'attention to its enlargement; It had already been widened to the outer dimensions of the side pieces of the engine; so that there was no more room to be gained in this direction. `All that could be done was to lengthen it.` But `the difficulty, here, was, that the additionalmaterial required for the purpose, and the greater leverage, at which the lengthening, rearward, of the fire box, would make it act,

would disturb that equalization of "the weight on the wheels, which, as already stated, was essential to the proper operation ofthe machine: so that, the possibility of calculation, we determined upon an entire change in the form of the fire box, and ultimately found, that, by adopting the form which is shown in No. 1, we were enabled to increase the capacity of the fire box, endwise, and rearward, without increasing its Weight or disturbing the equalization of the gross weight upon the wheels,-so that, while the largest dimension, lengthwise of the road, of a fire box behind the drivingk axles had been sixty eight inches prior to our invention we were enabled to obtain one Y of ninety inches, being an increase of grate.

surface of thirty two per cent. and this, not by a mere elongation, of the existing fire box, but by an elongation, due to a well Vadthroughthe fuel, as shown in No. 1, where tz", af, a', represent the dead portion of the bottom of the fire box, one of the sections of vwhich is represented as thrown open, by a lever, in dotted lines, to facilitate the discharge of thecinder, &c. vOn this dead surface, the ignition being less active than over the gratebars, theeffect of it to burn the tube sheet, below the opening ofthe tubes, is less than if the draft were suffered to pass there, and the finer coal, falls there, instead of being drawn through the tubes,

and thence throughv the chimney, to be wasted and lost. The advantages 'thus due tothe dead portion of the fire grate, or bot-v tom ofthe fire box, are consequences of the .elongation of the fire box, which became practicable, in consequence of the change of form,hereinbefore referred to.4 y

fv The result, thus obtained, led to the inl, vention shown in the second of the differences: already pointed outthat is-the inodelof feedingv from the top of the fire box throughthe two feed boxes shown in Nos. 1 and 2.# The elongationof the fire box not only increased thev quantity of grate surface thereinythereby increasing the difficulty of spreading the coal uniformly through tlie `common fire door, though still it was possible-to spreadvit with useful effect in the usuallmanner, but subject to the disadvantage 'ofI keeping open the fire doors longer thanV usual, thereby allowing 'for a correspondingly increased 'time the cold air to be drawnthr'ough-,the tubes, while the fuel was being fedfand spread. It at once therefore, became a matter of importance to obviate this objection to the elongation of the lire box; and, hence, the contrivance by which the fuel might be dropped from the top upon t-he fire, a cont-rivance which was made perfect by bottoms to the feed boxes operated by a lever, as shown in Nos. 1 and 2, which, being opened, after the boxes had been filled, and their .tops shut down, admitted no external air, while they let the coal fall where it was desired, either without further necessity to be spread, or within the reach of a bar introduced horizontally for the purpose through a small opening in the common fire door exhibited in the drawings. Indeed, by' keeping the feed boxes always full, and dropping the coal as wanted only, the fuelbecomes warmed by its proximity to the furnace heat within thev fire box", which still further promotes economyY in'its use. Thus, while the common fire door would be used in getting up the wood fire, with which the engine was ordinarily started, the feed boxes would befused'for the balance of the trip. i f The third of the differences, already referred to, as visible upon inspection, that is, the double platform of the tender, followed, as an invention, in the train, and as a consequence of, the other two. rlhe elevaf tion of the openings for fuel of the feed boxes made it necessary, or, at allevents most convenient, to place the iremanlwh'ere he could easily get at `themand hence the idea of projecting av platform from the tender for the purpose, on which he might stand, while 'feeding throughthe feed boxes; while, when feeding into the ordinary fire door, he might stand on the lower platform,

which, as described in the specification, 'i

already referred to, of the said Ross Winans, now pending in the Patent Office, Awas made lower than usual, being brought within about a foot of the rails. 0n this lower platform he would stand, too, when engaged in leveling his lire, shaking his grate bars, orn feeding, when he saw fit to do so, through the lowest opening; because, whilethe top vfeed so to call it is placed within the power ofthe fireman, there was'nothing to"pre`vent his feeding in the other way, if itlwere deemed advisable to do so. This construction of the tender is made the subject of a separate Vand contemporaneous application 'forj a patent-.f j y ,f

We do not limit ourselves tog'anyparticular length of fire box, for this must be comparative and be regulated lby thev class of the engine, nor to the right lines "and rectangles shown in the drawing; for the'tOpI of the lfire box may-be rounded crosswise of the road, or made octangular,'or many sided,r and the slope lengthwise, may be curved [instead-of straight, l,as weg-have.

drawn it.

What we claim in the construction of locomotive fire-boxes, is-

The downward and rearward inclination of the top or roof, when this is connected with the flat grate surface and the usual feeding hole or door, and with or without the fuel feeding boxes through the roof, as herein set forth.

In testimony whereof we, the said Ross WINANS and THOMAS WINANS hereto sub- 10 scribe our names in the presence of the witnesses whose names are hereto subscribed, on this twenty-third day of February 1854.

ROSS WINANS.` THOS. WINANS. Witnesses:

WM. WINANS, SAMUEL RINGGOLD. 

